--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Folly is so human that it has common…" description: "\"“Folly is so human that it has common roots with poetry and tragedy; it is revealed as much in the insane asylum as in the writings of a Cervantes or a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/richard-howard-51966_folly_folly-is-so-human-that-it-has-common-roo_1019461.png" --- # Folly is so human that it has common roots with poetry and… ![“Folly is so human that it has common roots with poetry and tragedy; it is revealed as much in the insane asylum as in the writings of a Cervantes or a Shakespeare, or in the deep psychological insights and cries of revolt of a Nietzsche.” quote by RICHARD HOWARD](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/richard-howard-51966_folly_folly-is-so-human-that-it-has-common-roo_1019461.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/richard-howard-51966_folly_folly-is-so-human-that-it-has-common-roo_1019461.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/richard-howard-51966_folly_folly-is-so-human-that-it-has-common-roo_1019461.png) > ““Folly is so human that it has common roots with poetry and tragedy; it is revealed as much in the insane asylum as in the writings of a Cervantes or a Shakespeare, or in the deep psychological insights and cries of revolt of a Nietzsche.”” [RICHARD HOWARD](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-howard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human folly shares origins with art and tragedy, appearing in madness and great literature alike. **In simple terms:** Folly and art stem from the same human impulses. Key Takeaway Recognize folly in yourself and others. Themes human nature art tragedy psychology Mood thoughtful analytical Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - mental health - literary analysis - creative writing - philosophical debate Key Concepts creativity irrationality social critique Questions to Reflect On - How does recognizing folly change our judgment? - Can art transform folly into insight? A Different Perspective Folly can be romanticized, obscuring its harmful effects. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Asylum Writings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asylum-writings-2263495/) [Folly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/folly/) [Folly Human](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/folly-human-2263493/) [Insane asylum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/insane-asylum/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Poetry Tragedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry-tragedy-2263494/) [Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisdom/) ## Related quotes > [Quantum est in rebus inane! How much folly there is in human affairs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aulus-persius-flaccus/quantum-est-in-rebus-inane-how-much-folly-there-is-in-human-affairs/) [Aulus Persius Flaccus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aulus-persius-flaccus/) > [Winter's notion of poetry is tragedy. It knows nothing of comedy. Its laughter was frozen on its lips long ago.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-alfred-quayle/winter-s-notion-of-poetry-is-tragedy-it-knows-nothing-of-comedy-its/) [William Alfred Quayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-alfred-quayle/) > [That perhaps is your task--to find the relation between things that seem incompatible yet have a mysterious affinity, to absorb every experience that comes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/that-perhaps-is-your-task-to-find-the-relation-between-things-that/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [The Democrat Party and the media - primarily, the media - has created a genuine insane asylum that is the Democrat Party base. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/the-democrat-party-and-the-media-primarily-the-media-has-created-a/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [The world sometimes feels like an insane asylum. You can decide whether you want to be an inmate or pick up your visitor's badge.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/the-world-sometimes-feels-like-an-insane-asylum-you-can-decide/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [“I wonder if rooms in an insane asylum have Do Not Disturb signs for the doors. I should hope not, because knock or no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/i-wonder-if-rooms-in-an-insane-asylum-have-do-not-disturb-signs-for/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [...it seemed to me I was living in an insane asylum of my own making. I wnt about with all these fantastic figures: centaurs,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-seemed-to-me-i-was-living-in-an-insane-asylum-of-my-own-making-i/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth Being an author is like being in charge of your own personal insane…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-a-dale/fill-your-paper-with-the-breathings-of-your-heart-william-wordsworth/) [L.A. Dale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-a-dale/) > [If there’s life on other planets, then the earth is the Universe’s insane asylum.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltaire/if-there-s-life-on-other-planets-then-the-earth-is-the-universe-s/) [Voltaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltaire/) > [“Insane asylums are deliberate and premeditated receptacles of black magic, and it is not only that doctors encourage magic with their untimely and hybrid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonin-artaud/insane-asylums-are-deliberate-and-premeditated-receptacles-of-black/) [Antonin Artaud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonin-artaud/) > [By the tons it is coming into this country - the deadly, dreadful poison that racks and tears not only the body, but the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-j-anslinger/by-the-tons-it-is-coming-into-this-country-the-deadly-dreadful-poison/) [Harry J. Anslinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-j-anslinger/) > [“I myself spent nine years in an insane asylum and I never had the obsession of suicide, but I know that each conversation with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonin-artaud/i-myself-spent-nine-years-in-an-insane-asylum-and-i-never-had-the/) [Antonin Artaud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonin-artaud/) > [South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-l-petigru/south-carolina-is-too-small-for-a-republic-and-too-large-for-an/) [James L. Petigru](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-l-petigru/) > [Hollywood is a cross between a health farm, a recreation center and an insane asylum. It's a company town, and I happen to like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-caine/hollywood-is-a-cross-between-a-health-farm-a-recreation-center-and-an/) [Michael Caine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-caine/) > [Earth is the insane asylum of the universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/earth-is-the-insane-asylum-of-the-universe/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) ## More by RICHARD HOWARD > [Auden, who asked two things of an imagined world-that it be somehow like ours and somehow unlike-would be Ben Marcus's ideal reader, yet even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-howard/auden-who-asked-two-things-of-an-imagined-world-that-it-be-somehow/) [Richard Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-howard/) > [Prose proposes, verse reverses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-howard/prose-proposes-verse-reverses/) [Richard Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-howard/) > [Time reveals all translation to be paraphrase.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-howard/time-reveals-all-translation-to-be-paraphrase/) [Richard Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-howard/) > [Give your teachers the respect they deserve, because they are the ones who can help you get where you need to go.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-howard/give-your-teachers-the-respect-they-deserve-because-they-are-the-ones/) [Richard Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-howard/) [Explore all 5 RICHARD HOWARD quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-howard/) ## More Folly quotes > [My folks tried to make a preacher of me and missed by a narrow margin… I would have made a good one if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/my-folks-tried-to-make-a-preacher-of-me-and-missed-by-a-narrow-margin/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/while-the-people-retain-their-virtue-and-vigilance-no-administration/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [How arrogant - how very far from humility - would be the self-satisfied, smug assurance that God, a tidy-up-after-us God will come and clean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-whitehouse/how-arrogant-how-very-far-from-humility-would-be-the-self-satisfied/) [Sheldon Whitehouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-whitehouse/) > [“Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/proverbs-16-22-bible-kjv/understanding-is-a-wellspring-of-life-unto-him-that-hath-it-but-the/) [Proverbs 16:22 Bible KJV](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/proverbs-16-22-bible-kjv/) > [Alcohol doesn't console, it doesn't fill up anyone's psychological gaps, all it replaces is the lack of God. It doesn't comfort man. On the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/alcohol-doesn-t-console-it-doesn-t-fill-up-anyone-s-psychological/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [Tis easy to break an idol, very easy: to regard the self as easy to subdue is folly, folly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/tis-easy-to-break-an-idol-very-easy-to-regard-the-self-as-easy-to/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [You are my inspiration and my folly. You are my light across the sea, my million nameless joys, and my day's wage. You are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/you-are-my-inspiration-and-my-folly-you-are-my-light-across-the-sea/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [What curious little corners of folly are to be found in even the sanest brain!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-of-romania/what-curious-little-corners-of-folly-are-to-be-found-in-even-the/) [Marie of Romania](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-of-romania/) > [Unnecessary hustle is one of the American follies. We hustle at both work and play, and consequently enjoy neither to the utmost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-feather/unnecessary-hustle-is-one-of-the-american-follies-we-hustle-at-both/) [William Feather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-feather/) > [HERMIT, n. A person whose vices and follies are not sociable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/hermit-n-a-person-whose-vices-and-follies-are-not-sociable/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [Democracy is the worst form of government. It is the most inefficient, the most clumsy, the most unpractical… It reduces wisdom to impotence and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-briffault/democracy-is-the-worst-form-of-government-it-is-the-most-inefficient/) [Robert Briffault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-briffault/) > [It is such a supreme folly to believe that nuclear weapons are deadly only if they're used.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/it-is-such-a-supreme-folly-to-believe-that-nuclear-weapons-are-deadly/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [One's conscience reproaches one much more stingingly for one's follies than one's crimes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geraldine-jewsbury/one-s-conscience-reproaches-one-much-more-stingingly-for-one-s/) [Geraldine Jewsbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geraldine-jewsbury/) > [What folly made young people, even those in middle age, think they were immortal? How much better, their lives, if they could remember the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rohinton-mistry/what-folly-made-young-people-even-those-in-middle-age-think-they-were/) [Rohinton Mistry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rohinton-mistry/) > [We are more heavily taxed by our idleness, pride and folly than we are taxed by government.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/we-are-more-heavily-taxed-by-our-idleness-pride-and-folly-than-we-are/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) [Browse all 1,246 Folly quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/folly/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Folly is so human that it has common roots with poetry and tragedy; it is revealed as much in the insane asylum as in the writings of a Cervantes or a Shakespeare, or in the deep psychological insights and cries of revolt of a Nietzsche.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "RICHARD HOWARD" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-howard/folly-is-so-human-that-it-has-common-roots-with-poetry-and-tragedy-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Folly" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-howard/folly-is-so-human-that-it-has-common-roots-with-poetry-and-tragedy-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/richard-howard-51966_folly_folly-is-so-human-that-it-has-common-roo_1019461.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/richard-howard-51966_folly_folly-is-so-human-that-it-has-common-roo_1019461.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/richard-howard-51966_folly_folly-is-so-human-that-it-has-common-roo_1019461.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Folly is so human that it has common roots with poetry and tragedy; it is revealed as much in the insane…” — RICHARD HOWARD", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "RICHARD HOWARD", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-howard/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Folly is so human that it...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-howard/folly-is-so-human-that-it-has-common-roots-with-poetry-and-tragedy-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-howard/folly-is-so-human-that-it-has-common-roots-with-poetry-and-tragedy-it/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```